A crowd of more than 100 people gathered Thursday at the Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church in Cleveland to partake in a community forum with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, Public Safety Director Martin Flask and Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath to ask questions about the details of the police shooting deaths of Marissa Williams and Timothy Russell.John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer

More than two dozen people, including family members of the victims, lined up before a microphone to speak. They had questions about police protocol and federal oversight, but complaints that police officers are racist dominated the two-and-half-hour meeting.

One woman charged she was recently harassed by police and thrown into a patrol car for doing nothing more than writing down addresses of vacant properties she planned to send to City Hall.

Others broadly charged "the majority of the police are very racist."

Another person asked what the city is doing to improve relations between residents and police.

Several described the shooting as murder.

Jackson and McGrath have been around long enough to understand the complicated tension between police and black residents. They know it's always present and fueled by the dissonance between the extreme perception by some that all cops are racist and the reality that vast majority are not. They know accusations of racism flare when controversial incidents become the subject of intense media attention and community scrutiny.

Since then, the issue retreated. But 137 shots later, the issue of racism and the police department is again fully charged.

"No one in the black community believes . . . that if the occupants of that car were a white male and white female, 137 shots would have been fired into the car," a man told the mayor and chief at the meeting.

Jackson and McGrath let people vent.

They pledged repeatedly to deliver the facts and discipline officers if warranted. They also emphasized the city's efforts to train officers, build race relations and take actions against officers who do not respect all citizens. The audience scoffed at some of their points. Nonetheless, Jackson and his police officials remained cool.

City officials should continue to give people an outlet to speak out, even if that means they have to be lectured by people like Art McKoy, a community activists whose shrill attacks on all-things-police have made him more of a cartoon character than a respected bridge builder.

McKoy provided some levity at the meeting when he overstated his influence, suggesting to Jackson and officials that they will pay a political price if they are not mindful of McKoy's message and fail to deal with bad police officers.

Jackson, in his tell-it-like-is style, responded calmly, "There is no fear on my part – the truth is what it is."

He pledged to follow the facts.

"I got 37 years in, so I ain't worried about a job and a paycheck," he said, setting off some laughs. "Anybody scared of you – is in trouble."

Two audience members also criticized Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association for its tough talk about criminals. At the end of the night, one man referred to CPPA president Jeffery Follmer's recent comments about the shooting victims, calling his words "very disrespectful and reckless."

Follmer referred to shooting victims, Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, as "bad guys" and said the police officers did a "great job."

The man then called on Follmer – who was in the back of the room – to come forward and take questions instead of "doing it through the cameras."

City officials said the meeting was not for such questioning.

I hope Follmer was listening to what the man was really saying.

Follmer only increases the "us vs. them" mentality with such comments, which, in turn, increases the danger for his members. He should save the tough talk for contract negotiations with city officials and learn to use the media to win the support of the residents, not just fellow officers.

His predecessor were not any better at messaging.

After the meeting, I stood near McGrath and watched him interact with the members of the audience. He's took their questions, passed out cards and promised to return.

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